Director Wes Anderson is the king of quirky independent movies. Just for that you would think I’d automatically hate him. I don’t because I love the movie Rushmore, which is fucking brilliant. So, I was interested to see his new film, which reunited him with actors he uses often like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. I was also excited to see Edward Norton and Bruce Willis.

Moonrise Kingdom is about two kids who run away from home. Unexpectedly, 90% of the screentime is devoted to their fledgling love affair. Of course, it’s all viewed through a quirky lens. It’s romanticized to an unneccessary degree, and is made annoyingly wholesome and cute. It’s unfortunate because that drains all of the interesting bits out like a vampire. The remaining 10% focuses on the attempts of the other characters to track them down. This is where Norton, Willis, and a troop of Scouts come in.

Parts of the movie are fun, such as the early attempts to track them down, and the later attempt at avoiding capture. These are the highlights of the movie. The rest of it features more camping scenes than a Harry Potter movie. The majority of the movie’s heavy lifting comes from the two leads who were both 12 years old at the time of filming. And, wouldn’t you know it, they fucking suck at acting.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “LOL BUT BRIK TEHY ARE JUST LITTLE KIDS SO TEHY CANT BE THAT GOOD AT ACTING YET GIVE EM A BREAK LOL!” I’m sorry, but no. You’re wrong. Some kids can be good at acting. Just take a look at Chloe Grace Moretz or that little bastard from The Sixth Sense and tell me their acting is not light years better than the twats in Moonrise Kingdom. The fact that these two can’t act, and that they dominate 90% of the screentime, nearly ruins the movie. Other problems include woefully underdeveloped characters like the parts played by Willis and Murray.

I’m conflicted about this movie. On one hand I want to like it since it’s so off-kilter. On the other hand, the two leads are such horrible actors that the movie should automatically lose points for that. They don’t get a pass for being kid actors. They were both absolutely terrible. It’s like Wes Anderson intentionally sought out shitty kid actors to put in his movie. Maybe he did. Maybe that’s the point? Who knows?

Verdict: Average

Pierrot le Fou

I’m sure this still from the movie has SUPER DEEP MEANING.

If you aren’t a hardcore filmfag, chances are you’ve never heard of this movie. Consider that a blessing. Pierrot le Fuck is a 1965 French movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard. He became a famous director in this era because he liked to film shit in the weirdest way possible, and people thought he was some kind of goddamn genius for it. Pierrot le Fuck is about a couple of egotistical assholes who abandon their families, steal shit, kill some people, and run around like turd burglars for the entire movie. Everybody dies at the end, too, so — spoilers — I guess. The problem really isn’t the story so much as the directing. I couldn’t fucking stand how it was directed. It was way too cool and hip for a troglodyte for me to understand. Everything about it from the way the actors read their lines, to people staring directly at the camera, to how trendy everybody was, to just about fucking everything irritated me to no end. Godard is more pretentious cock gobbler than innovative director. Obviously, this is only a movie for the hardcore amongst us. The only good thing about it was it had some nudity. That’s it. Pierrot le Fuck can go fuck itself. That would be the trendy thing to do.

Yes, definitely one of the greatest Bebop episodes! For me, Wes Anderson is hit and miss. The only movie of his I really like is Rushmore. Fantastic Mr. Fox was OK. Everything else is either mediocre or bad. If he wasn’t so lucky getting such great talent to work with him, I imagine nobody would give his films the time of day.

LOL. Just the juxtaposition of you reviewing Jean-Luc Godard makes me laugh. I’m not a fan of that stuff, and I’m woefully unfamiliar with it… but I think you should review more of them, Brik. Think of your readers! :lol:

I’m MORE shocked to see you cede the fact that Rushmore is “Brilliant” than I am to see you bag on Moonrise Kingdom. Personally, that movie didnt blow me away or anything either, in spite of the incredible cast. I thought it was good, but a lot of people were tripping over themselves trying to hail it.

For some reason, I’ve always thought Rushmore was great. It was the first Wes Anderson movie I saw, and so far the only one I have really liked. Maybe the quirkiness worked once for me and never again? As for Godard, I don’t think I could subject myself to that much pain. But if it was for my fans, well, perhaps.

To be honest I never agreed so much with a review like I did with this one. The movie could’ve been so much better with more experimented kid actors. The girl had the perfect physique du role of a senseless misunderstood kid, but as soon as she opened her mouth she just ruined everything. The kid was annoying but not in the way he was intended to by the movie creators, he was just bad. Where were all the good actors in this movie? Such a let down.